Tag Archives: Iraq

Riyadh- Saudi Arabia and Iraq will be cosigning the establishment of a joint Saudi-Iraqi Coordinating Council in Riyadh next week, sources told Asharq Al-Awsat. The body is said to cover various political, economic, security and cultural fields. Abdul Aziz al-Shammari, charge d’affaires of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques …

Iraqi government forces have captured key installations outside the disputed city of Kirkuk from Kurdish fighters. A military statement said units had taken control of the K1 military base, the Baba Gurgur oil and gas field, and a state-owned oil company’s offices. Baghdad said the Peshmerga had withdrawn “without fighting”, …

Syrian Islamic State fighters are set to abandon Raqqa in a withdrawal agreed with U.S.-backed Syrian militias that have them surrounded, a militia spokesman said on Saturday, as the jihadists’ defeat in their former Syrian capital edged closer. Officials gave conflicting accounts on whether foreign fighters would also be leaving …

Iraqi forces have demanded that Kurdish troops withdraw from oil fields and military bases around the contested city of Kirkuk, Kurdish officials and a senior militia leader said Friday, leading to a tense standoff around the city. Kurdish peshmerga soldiers rallied to protect Kirkuk on Thursday night, as Interior Ministry …

By John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt For the past several decades, and especially since the Six-Day War in 1967, the centrepiece of US Middle Eastern policy has been its relationship with Israel. The combination of unwavering support for Israel and the related effort to spread ‘democracy’ throughout the region has …

Iran, Iraq and Turkey have agreed to create a triple military alliance as the first step towards growing cooperation in mutual defense and regional security. The creation of the “military triangle” was highlighted yesterday in a report published by Fars News Agency, the principal news outlet for the Islamic Revolutionary …

By Graham E. Fuller The past two weeks have seen two referendums vote for national self-determination. The Iraqi Kurds voted for independence but the referendum was rejected by the central government in Baghdad. Then Catalans in Spain voted for their own independent state in a referendum similarly rejected by Madrid. …

Iran and Turkey will work together to confront the disintegration of Iraq and Syria to ease tension in the crisis-hit region, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday after meeting with his Turkish counterpart in Tehran. “We want security and stability in the Middle East … the independence referendum in …

The United States on Friday declared illegitimate Monday’s Kurdish referendum on independence, as the Iraqi government imposed a ban on international flights to airports operated by the Kurdistan Regional Government and Iraqi troops prepared to seize the semiautonomous region’s border controls. “The United States does not recognize the . . . unilateral …

The leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, seems to have broken his 11-month silence with a long audio message in which he mocks the United States, calls on jihadis to rally against the Syrian regime and insists that ISIS ‘remains’ despite its rapid loss …

Hundreds of passengers waited to board flights out of the Kurdish region at Irbil International Airport on Thursday after Baghdad threatened to ban flights following an independence referendum held by Iraq’s Kurds earlier this week. Most international carriers who fly to and from airports in the Kurdish region announced they …

Brent oil prices hovered near 26-month highs on Tuesday, supported by Turkey’s threat to cut crude exports from Iraq’s Kurdistan region and signs of quicker market rebalancing. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan repeated a threat to cut off the pipeline that carries 500,000-600,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude from northern …

Iran halted flights to and from Kurdish regions in northern Iraq on Sunday in retaliation to a plan by the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to hold a referendum on independence. It also started wargames at the Kurdish border. The air embargo is the first concrete retaliatory measure against Monday’s …

By Graham Fuller Of all the peoples of the Middle East who have suffered through various wars and manipulations by the US and other foreign powers over the past century, the Kurds are probably the only people whose national cause has actually improved during the more recent geopolitical turmoil. On …

Police deployed overnight in the northern Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk to prevent any outbreak of ethnic violence ahead of a referendum on Kurdish independence strongly opposed by the Baghdad government, local residents said. The Kurdish region plans to hold the Sept. 25 vote despite an Iraqi government warning it …

The Iraqi Kurdish parliament has voted to back an independence referendum in the face of opposition from across the globe. The Kurdistan Regional Government, sitting for the first time in two years, backed the 25 September vote on Friday. Iraq’s central government rejected the referendum as unconstitutional on Tuesday. Iran, …

An American citizen fighting with the Islamic State in Syria has been captured by local forces and turned over to the U.S. military in that country, the Pentagon said Thursday. “Syrian Democratic Forces turned over an American citizen who surrendered to SDF on or around Sept. 12 to U.S. forces,” …

At Russia’s request, the U.S. military on Friday called off its surveillance of a convoy of Islamic State fighters that has been stuck in the Syrian desert for the past 10 days, saying it is now up to the Syrian government to resolve its fate. The decision to withdraw the …

“We are very grateful for the help we have received from the coalition forces,” he said “Their backing meant it was too much for Isil to handle.” But he warned that, as the military campaign against Isil began to wind down, it was important that countries like Britain continued to …

Iraqis on Tuesday denounced a deal allowing Islamic State group fighters to evacuate a Syrian-Lebanese frontier region towards the Iraqi border. Hundreds of jihadists started leaving the area on Monday, heading by bus for Syria’s eastern province of Deir Ezzor, which borders Iraq and is the only Syrian province still …

The Turkish Foreign Ministry has criticized a decision by the local administration of Kirkuk to participate in a planned referendum by the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on Sept. 25, saying it is a “serious breach” of the Iraqi constitution. “We recall that the Baghdad Administrative Court ruled on Aug. 17, …

Islamic State fighters and their families who had been inside an IS enclave on the Lebanon–Syria border reached an exchange point in eastern Syria on Tuesday from where they will head to IS-held territory, a Hezbollah military media unit said. The transfer under Syrian military escort was agreed under a …

Iraqi forces have retaken almost all of Tal Afar, Islamic State’s stronghold in the country’s northwest, the Iraqi military said on Sunday. After just eight days of fighting, all 29 neighborhoods in Tal Afar city had been taken back from the militant group, the military said in a statement on …

Iraqi forces breached on Tuesday the city limits of Tal Afar, an Islamic State stronghold west of Mosul, military authorities said. Army and counter terrorism units broke into the city from the eastern and southern sides, according to statements from the Iraqi joint operations command. Security forces launched an offensive …

The Israeli Prime Minister has recently voiced his support for the idea of creating an independent Kurdish state in parts of Iraq, despite strong opposition from Turkey and the US. Sputnik Radio discussed the statement with Israeli security analyst Shlomo Brom, who explained what possible reasons there could be behind …

Militant group Islamic State on Monday claimed responsibility for an attack on the Iraqi embassy in Kabul that began with a suicide bomber blowing himself up at the main gate, allowing gunmen to enter the building and battle security forces. The assault came a week after 35 people were killed …

Following extensive discussions, the Iraqi Ministry of Oil and Baker Hughes, a GE company (BHGE) signed a contract for fast-track solutions to help the recovery of flare gas in line with the country’s strategy for energy sector development. An advanced modular gas processing (NGL) plant has been recommended for Nassiriya …

By Graham Fuller * — The fall of the primary ISIS stronghold in Mosul in Iraq represents a turning point strategically, politically, ideologically and even religiously in the Muslim world. Mosul has been the largest symbolic center of the ISIS “Caliphate” over which the ISIS “Caliph” ‘Abd-al-Rahman al-Baghdadi presided. The …

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi arrived in Mosul on Sunday and congratulated the armed forces for their “victory” over Islamic State after nearly nine months of urban warfare, bringing an end to jihadist rule in the city. Islamic State’s defeat in Mosul three years after taking the city is a …

A federal judge halted late on Monday the deportation of all Iraqi nationals detained during immigration sweeps across the United States this month until at least July 10, expanding a stay he imposed last week. The stay had initially only protected 114 detainees from the Detroit area. U.S. District Judge Mark …

The tiny Gulf state of Qatar is today under harsh siege from nearly everybody in the Middle East, and portrayed as a “supporter of terrorism.” The US has bought into the mantra. What’s really going on here? Back in the 1990s the joke in the Arab world was, “Qatar is …

By Lizzie Dearden @lizziedearden for The Independent — Isis is developing its own arsenal of military grade weapons and ammunition including rockets, mortar rounds and bombs as it continues battling to defend territory across Syria and Iraq, a report has found. Facilities abandoned during the Mosul offensive have revealed manufacturing …

By Rodi Said | AIN ISSA, SYRIA — A U.S.-backed alliance of Syrian armed groups has launched an operation to retake the northern city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of Islamic State in Syria, the group said on Sunday. The new offensive ratchets up pressure on Islamic State at a …

By Babak Dehghanpisheh for Reuters | NEAR HAMMAM AL-ALIL, IRAQ — Iraqi troops advancing towards Mosul battled on Saturday for the last town left between them and the Islamic State stronghold to the north, which is already under assault from special forces fighting inside the city’s eastern districts. Saturday’s attack on Hammam …

BY GEORGE FRIEDMAN AND JACOB L. SHAPIRO for Mauldin Economics — The Islamic State captured Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul, from the Iraqi government after a seven-day battle in June 2014. The US-backed Iraqi assault to recapture Mosul began with great fanfare on Oct. 18. This piece will lay out the …

By Stephen Kalin and Maher Chmaytelli | EAST OF MOSUL/BAGHDAD, IRAQ — An elite Iraqi army unit advanced towards the built-up area of the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul on Monday after two weeks of fighting to clear surrounding areas of the insurgents. Military commanders said that the U.S.-backed offensive …

By Stephen Kalin and Ahmed Rasheed for REUTERS | Iraqi Shi’ite militias launched an offensive toward the west of Mosul on Saturday, an operation that will tighten the noose around Islamic State’s Iraq stronghold but has alarmed Turkey and could inflame tensions in the mainly Sunni area. The battle for …

The Levant News — Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Tuesday it was the duty of the U.S.-led coalition to prevent Islamic State militants from escaping into nearby Syria from the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. The coalition is providing air and ground support to Iraqi government and Kurdish …

By Lin Taylor for Reuters – Iraqi government forces, with air and ground support from the U.S.-led coalition, launched an offensive on Monday to drive Islamic State from the northern city of Mosul, the militants’ last major stronghold in the country. The United States predicted Islamic State would suffer”a lasting …

Fake News and False Flags: How the Pentagon paid a British PR firm $500 million for top secret Iraq propaganda By Crofton Black and Abigail Fielding-Smith — The Pentagon gave a controversial UK PR firm over half a billion dollars to run a top secret propaganda programme in Iraq, the …

The Levant News — Iraqi Minister of Construction and Housing Tariq al-Khikani estimated Tuesday that Iraq has lost $23 billion since the emergence of the ISIS in 2014. He spoke at the third preparatory meeting for the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, held in Indonesia from Monday through Wednesday. Khikani …

The Levant News — A map of every car bomb explosions in Baghdad since 2003. A shocking map has appeared on the social media. It is about every car bomb explosions in Baghdad since 2003. Alexander C. Kaufman wrote a piece titled “A Staggering Reminder That Car Bombs Are An Epidemic …

By Ishaan Tharoor for The Washington Post — First, they came for Istanbul. On Tuesday night, three suspected Islamic State militants launched a brazen assault on Turkey’s main airport, exploding their suicide vests after gunning down numerous passengers and airport staff. At least 45 people were killed. The world panicked; …

The Levant News — Iraq’s ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned Saudi Arabia for its “repeated interventions in Iraqi internal matters” in a statement today. The warning follows remarks by Saudi Foreign Affairs Minister Adel al-Jubeir on Wednesday that called for the dissolution of the Shiite-dominated Popular Mobilization Forces fighting alongside …